|| *Comments on Lakewood Speedway:* View the most recent comment <#6> | Post a comment <#post> 1. Cooper posted: 03.27.2010 - 5:41 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Lakewood Speedway was a race track located south of Atlanta, Georgia, in Lakewood, Georgia, just north of the eastern arm of Langford Parkway (formerly Lakewood Freeway). The track held many kinds of races between 1919 and 1979, including events sanctioned by AAA/USAC, IMCA, and NASCAR. It was a one-mile dirt track which was located adjacent to Lakewood Fairgrounds. Lakewood Speedway was considered the "Indianapolis of the South" as it was located in the largest city in the Southern United States and it held an annual race of the Indy cars. Lakewood was resurfaced in 1967. Evel Knievel made an appearance at Lakewood Speedway in 1974. He was scheduled to make a jump, but had injured his back the week before. After another stuntman performed the motorcycle jump, Evel Knievel was brought to the track in an ambulance, where he was lifted onto a motorcycle by four assistants. He then drove up and down the track, popping wheelies for the crowd. The track fell into disuse in the late 1970s. After it officially closed on September 3, 1979, it was allowed to be overgrown with grass and bushes. Monthly Flea markets and a few concerts were held at the exhibition halls on the fairgrounds. As of 2008, the grandstand is still standing, but the third and fourth turns of the racetrack are covered by the back parking lot for Lakewood Amphitheatre.A road crosses the turn two, and the frontstretch was paved to become an access road to Lakewood Avenue. Most of the lake has been filled. Lakewood Speedway was featured prominently in a few different movies. Scenes from the 1977 Burt Reynolds' film, Smokey and the Bandit were staged at Lakewood. 2. jimmy partin posted: 02.19.2011 - 8:56 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) my daddy ran a small gas station in st. augustine floida in 1950 st.augustine was a hot spotfor beach jalopy racing they were called beach skeetersin florida ,named after the misquiter,a flying insect that bite you the drivers moved from the beach to the dirt race tracks around 1950 there were some good drivers from st. augustine in this time they hung around my dad s station bill snowden &skimp hersey was two of them skimp was killed at lakewood speedway in 1950 we lost 3 drivers in 1950 &1951 1in lakewood 1in jacksonville & 1 in orlando 3. Andy U posted: 12.10.2018 - 7:11 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) OK, you can see it on the 1954 Southwest Atlanta map. It looks like "Lakewood Raceway (Dr, St, Way?) goes down the backstretch. the turns 1/2 (I think) went around what is left of the lake. The NW (middle of 3 and 4) would have been just feet from Pryor Cir. Then into 4 and out into the treeline and back on to Lakewood Raceway "St". There are overhead shots online but they don't all jive. It looks like a weird shaped track built to max out the available property. 4. Andy U posted: 12.10.2018 - 7:37 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Video on filming Smokey II with the Lakewood rollercoaster being destroyed. You can see the track in parts of the video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J_1ZtubXvF0 5. Andy U posted: 12.10.2018 - 7:37 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) From the Pryor Circle end of the track. Note how close the track comes to city streets at both ends. I think the straights are still there sorta. https://www.reddit.com/r/NASCAR/comments/97vptu/til_that_georgias_lakewood_speedway_had_a_very/ 6. thog posted: 07.07.2020 - 7:53 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) This track could be listed as "Lakewood" instead of "Atlanta" on the results pages to prevent confusion between Atlanta Motor Speedway. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ *Post a comment:* Your comment may not appear immediately - all comments must be approved by the moderator. Name: Comment: